Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VR Game Ties Depression To Brain Area

Posted by Zonk on from the get-out-of-my-head dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Science Daily is reporting that scientists are using a VR videogame that challenges spatial memory as a new tool to map out depression in the brain. 'Spatial memory' is how you orient yourself in space and remember how to get to places in the outside world. Researchers have found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared, suggesting that their hippocampi (where spatial memory is based) were not working properly."

1 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Method of discovery by MS-06FZ · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It was actually quite accidental. First they put their gardener, Jobe, into the VR machine. When he got out, they asked how he felt - he said he was feeling a little depressed. One of the researchers made an off-hand comment about how he hated feeling down, and wished the causes of depression could be isolated. Then Jobe told 'em it was part of the hippocampi.

    --
    ---GEC
    I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand